Lebanon’s High Council for Privatisation and PPP (HCP) is expected to invite developers and operators to deliver expressions of interest (EOIs) for the $500m expansion of Beirut’s Rafic Hariri International airport early next year.

The airport expansion will be undertaken on a public-private partnership (PPP) basis.

According to a source with knowledge of the scheme, the plan is for a “limited EOI to be issued sometime around March 2019”.

MEED reported that HCP invited firms to bid by September for the legal and technical advisory contracts for the airport expansion scheme.

Washington-based International Finance Corporation (IFC) was earlier appointed as transaction adviser for the project, which aims to expand the airport’s capacity from 6 to 20 million passengers a year.

MEED understands IFC will conduct studies on the planned airport expansion over a period of 21 months.

Prior to IFC’s appointment, it is understood that the Lebanese government had been reviewing various proposals for expanding the airport, which processed an estimated 8.23 million passengers in 2017.

Lebanon-based consultancy Dar al-Handasah is understood to have proposed a plan of action to increase the airport’s capacity to 10 million passengers a year that requires a budget of $54m.

Another company is understood to have proposed rehabilitating the runways, aprons and other associated infrastructure for approximately $28m.